Birdwatchers in urban areas typically use relatively small bird feeders to attract songbirds. These small bird feeders can be easily refilled with food from a box or small bag. Birdwatchers, naturalists and outdoor enthusiasts in rural areas have the opportunity to use large feeders to attract all sorts of wildlife. These large wildlife feeders are produced in a variety of different configurations. Some barrel type feeders are suspended from a tripod by a wire rope and can be moved from an upper to a lower position during the refill cycle as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Some bulk type feeders are generally rectangular and because of their size and great weight, sit on the ground as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. Some barrel type feeders have a barrel that is elevated by a tripod and the barrel is not raised or lowered to the ground during the refill cycle. These barrel type feeders that are not raised up and down for refilling are known to those skilled in the art and drawings are not included in this application.
Large feeders are generally successful and attract songbirds, animals and all sorts of wonderful wildlife. The uniform problem with these large wildlife feeders is that they run out of feed and need to be refilled which is a time consuming task, especially on a large reserve which may have as many as six or more feeders . . . . Usually these large barrel type wildlife feeders have a capacity of approximately 250 pounds of feed or more. These “barrel type feeders” are typically made from a 55 gallon barrel, hence the name. The only practical way to refill large wildlife feeders is with bags of feed that weigh about 50 pounds. Untying the bag is tedious and pouring the feed from the heavy bag into the large wildlife feeder is a difficult task, especially for retirees. Often some of the feed is spilled on the ground. The present invention is a multipurpose adapter that can be placed on large wildlife feeders to help direct the feed from a bag into the feeder. The present invention may be used with a) barrel type feeders suspended from a tripod by a wire rope, FIGS. 1 and 2, b) bulk type feeders, FIGS. 9 and 10 and c) barrel type feeders supported by a tripod, not shown, are not raised up and down by a wire rope.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,990 entitled “Apparatus for Empting Single or Multi-walled Packages” discloses a knife 18 in FIGS. 3, 5 and 6 for opening and emptying sacks and bags. U.S. Pat. No. 1,771,797 discloses an “Apparatus for Opening Cement Sacks and Dumping the Cement into Cement Mixers”. U.S. Pat. No. 1,824,937 discloses a “Sack Severing Device”. U.S. Pat. No. 1,869,120 discloses a “Dispensing Device”. U.S. Pat. No. 2,031,869 discloses a “Mechanism for Splitting Containers”. U.S. Pat. No. 2,078,599 discloses a “Cement Sack Opening Device”. U.S. Pat. No. 2,796,184 discloses a “Bag Opener”. U.S. Pat. No. 2,831,591 discloses a “Bulk Package Opener”. U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,725 discloses “Bag Slitting Machines”. U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,489 discloses a “Bag Opening Apparatus”. U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,247 discloses a “Bag Breaker”. U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,654 discloses a “Dialysis Drain Bag Drainage Device”. None of these prior art devices have a multipurpose design so they can be used on both barrel type feeders and bulk type feeders.